Table or the like with normally concealed minor service member



Jan. 26, 1954 Q UGGETT 2,667,396

TABLE OR THE LIKE WITH NORMALLY CONCEALED MINOR SERVICE MEMBER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 30, 1952 FIG. I.

n T 8 O. mm 1 mL. L S .P I r Q h F C 9 B .O a m W H l W, a I. 8 W 8 w 7 \l! Ir: J Ill! i LIHI il 1 7 a v y r r T 8 6 l 3 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 C. L. LIGGETT TABLE OR THE LIKE WITH NORMAL-LY CONCEALED MINOR SERVICE MEMBER wfiaJ imi R. .T b h mm m w mm" ..\.m m m (Ill L n w. I 3 w w mm s o. mm o .N x m N WMM b UM mm b 6 on m o. v mv 0 w. om .n Y B m tn 7 2 mm Jan. 26, 1954 Filed Dec. 30. 1952 Patented Jan. 26, 1954 UNITED STATES eA'rENr orrlcs TABLE OR THE LIKE WITH N ORMALLY CON- CEALEDMINOR SERVICE MEIWBER Charles L. Liggett, Goodlettsville, Tenn. Application December 30, 1952, Serial No. 328,608

The present invention relates to furniture and fixtures, such as tables, desks'and shelving, which provide major horizontal service members to hold objects, and more particularly to minor service members, such as boxes or trays, for supporting objects and means for associating such minor service members with the major service members that the former may be disposed in normal concealed or out-of-the-Way positions when such is desired, or moved to positions where objects may be readily placed or removed with respect to the minor service portions.

It is broadly old in the art to provide drawers, movable shelves and bins for this purpose, but

the drawer constructions, if made of wood, are" likely to resist sliding movement during damp weather, due to swelling of the material, and in the inexpensive types of constructions are apt to come apart through frequent use, and the metal constructions are expensive to manufac-' ture and cost considerable if sufiiciently sturdy to stand long and rough use.

'I'he'bin and movable shelf arrangements are usually expensive if sturdily made and often difficult to install and attain the accuracy necessary for efficient use over a long period of time.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive'yet efficient minor service portion, such as a'box or tray, for use with any approved type of major horizontal service member, such as a table, desk or counter top or a shelf, preferably provided with a skirt member, sometimes called a drop border or molding, along and under the marginal portion thereof, which minor service portion may be easily installed and will remain in good repair even when subjected to frequent use'over a long period of time.

Another object is to provide a minor service portion, which may be in the form of a box or tray, supported in such manner that it may be disposed and held by a simple strut-like means, beneath, and in close proximity to the major service portion when access to it is not desired, and when releasing the strut-like means can be swung to a hanging position where access may be had to articles resting upon the minor service portion.

Other objects and advantages will be apparentfrom the following detailed description of a highly emcient embodiment of my invention, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a table equipped witha minor service member, such as a box, shown in an exposed position or one where objects may readily be placed'or removed with respect to such service member.

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the same, but showing the minor service in a normal or out of-the-way position.

,Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. dis a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing the relative position of parts as in Fig. 1.

The present invention is shown embodied as a part of a table 5 comprising a major horizontal service member 6, supported by legs 1, and skirtmembers 8 secured in any approved mannerto the legs and major member s, beneath and along the marginal portions of the latter. The improvement comprisesa minor service member Ill; means I I carried by the table for supporting the member I0 in a pivoted manner so that it may be disposed, in a first position, beneath and closely adjacent to the underside [2 of member 6 and inwardly of the front skirt member 8, as shown in Fig. 3, or swung to a second pendent position spaced a considerable distance below the members 6 and 8 as shown in Figs. land 4; and.

movable means I4 adapted to releasably hold the member ID in the first position above referred to. The minor service member Ill, in the example shown, is in the form of a box, that is, similar to a drawer but does not have slidable' movement, and hence is not subjected to the stresses and strains to which slidable drawers have imparted to them in the pulling and pushing thereof with respect to drawer supports and guides. The box like service member. ID comprises a front wall I5, rear wall l6,sides I7 and-a bottom i8, secured together in any approved manner.

Referring to the means H, in the example shown, it comprises a pair of attaching rails iii secured, in parallel relationship to the under face of member 6, as by screws 20, and normal to the plane of the front skirt member 3; two pairs of companion links 2! and 22, one pair being movable in a vertical plane at one side of the member Land the other pair movable in a plane at the other side of the member it; pivot devices 23 and24, such as loose rivets, for pivotally connecting the'upper ends of companion links 2| and 22 to their respective rail l9; and pivot devices 25 and 26 such as screws,

for pivotally connecting the lower ends of companion links 2i and 22 to their respective side I! of the member [0.

ward portion of its respective rail 19, and each pivot device 24 is connected to the rear end portion of its respective rail I9. I

By locating the forward ends of the rails l9 against the front skirt member 8, the pivot de vices 23 closely adjacent to the rear face of member 8, and the pivot devices 25 to the rear of the plane of front wall l5 of the minor service member 10, but not as far back as the center of side wall [1, the minor service member ill, when in the open or second position referred to, will project sufliciently forward of the front of the table for access to compartment of same, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, but not sufficiently far in front'of the table to render it impractical to use the table service portion 6 while a person is seated in front of same. This is important where several desks are located in a. school room, one in front of another in rows, and space is limited.

As a result of the parallelogram arrangement, by locating each pivot device 26 from the rear wall IS, the same distance as each pivot device 25 is located from front wall IS, a balanced or symmetrical assembly is provided consistent with the provision of rails l9 each of minimum length. l

The length'of each link 2 l22 is determined by the preferred distance between the upper faces of the service members 6 and Hi, When. the latter is in the open or second position referred to, and the space available beneath service member 6 between the confronting faces of the front and rear skirt members 8.

The means I 4 is an important feature of the invention and in the example shown comprises a strut-like bar 28 and a hinge 29 including a leaf 30 secured as by screws 31 to the inner face 32 of the front skirt member 8 and a leaf 33 secured to the upper face of bar 28, as by screws 3 3, the leaves 30 and 33 being connected by pintle 35. The bar 28 may be of inexpensive material such as wood or plastic and has a front face 36 normally engaging the inner face 32 and a rear face 31, a portion of which normally engages the front of minor service member Hi, to hold it in a concealed position as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The rear'end of the bar is tapered from its upper portion downwardly and forwardly toward its front end, that is, beveled or rounded as at 38, so that the bar may be manually swung upwardly to the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4, out of the way of the front of member Ill. The member H) may then. be lowered to the pendent position shown by full lines in Fig. 4."

After the member I!) has cleared the strut-like bar 28, the latter may be left to fall by gravity to the position shown by full lines in Fig. 4 while the front face 36 of strut-like bar 28 abuts against the inner face 32 of front skirt member 8 or any other suitable type of abutment depending from the the major member 6. When it is desired to return the member ID to its normal concealed position a person may impart a rearward swinging movement to it and the upper margin of front wall [5, engaging the beveled or rounded portion 38 of the bar 28 will force the latter upwardly until it may again drop by gravity to a position acting as a strut between members 8 and I0.

Equipment according to the present invention may readily be applied to tables, desks and counters already in use without alteration of any skirt members thereof, and applied to such furniture and fixtures which do not have skirt members by the addition thereof or any form of depending abutments for support of and cooperative with bar 28.

I- claim:

1. In combination, a major horizontal service member provided with a depending abutment, a minor horizontal service member, means pivotally supporting said minor member from said major member so that it may be disposed, in a first position, beneath and closely adjacent to the underside of said major member and spaced from said abutment or swung to a second position spaced a considerable distance below said major member and abutment, and a bar movably carried by said abutment normally acting as a strut between said abutment and minor member for releasably retaining said minor member in said first position.

2. In combination, a major horizontal service member, a skirt member along a marginal portion thereof, a minor horizontal service member, means pivotally supporting said minor member from said major member so that it may be disposed, in a first position, beneath and closely adjacent to the underside of said major member and to the rear of said skirt member, or'swung forwardly to a second position spaced a con-" siderable distance below said major and skirt members, and means releasably retaining said minor member in said first position, said means' including a bar movable with respect to and'acting as a strut between said skirt member and said minor member.

3. The combination of claim 2 in which said bar is pivoted to one of said last-mentioned members. 7

4. The combination of claim 2 in which said bar is pivoted to said skirt member at a zone spaced from the underside of said major member, acting as a strut engaging said skirt and minor members and capable of being swung upwardly out of engagement with said minor member to release it for movement to said second position.

5. The combination of claim 4 in which the end of the bar nearest said minor member is References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 527,303 Van Houten Oct. 9, 1894 876,159 Erickson Jan. '7, 1908 Burchell Nov. 20, 1917 

